Fine white spots in the positive are the result of fine opaque particles in the negative, most likely embedded into the gelatin emulsion. There are many possible causes, such as minute particles that can be found in nearly all municipal water supplies. These can come from the rust on the inside of underground steel water supply lines, as well as chemical reactions between dissolved minerals in the water and the water pipe and non-harmful bacteria feeding on metals used in water lines.
The following is one of many links found on Google in response to the search string, “black slime in water pipes.”
https://www.atsenvironmental.com/residential/water/contaminants/list/manganese/
https://www.rotorooter.com/frequent...-is-the-black-stuff-that-comes-out-of-faucet/
It is particles such as these that can get into film emulsions during processing. It is for this reason that commercial film processors use frequently-changed water filters on the supply lines to their processors. It was common practice to use a 25-30 micron coarse filter followed by a 5 micron fine filter to remove particles in the water supply in commercial film processing.
Other possible sources of particles might be in used fixer, which can accumulate particles of silver salts from film fixing. In time these salts can reduce to silver metal or other compounds in solid particle form. For this reason, some users filter their fixers between successive uses to remove particles that might have accumulated in use. Coffee filters are often employed in home-based darkrooms for this purpose.
Particle problems can also occur in developers that are not mixed in accordance with the maker’s instructions. One way this can happen is by mixing the powder components into water that is significantly lower in temperature than specified by the developer maker. Some of the material then fails to dissolve into solution, leaving tiny undissolved particles floating about in the improperly-mixed developer. This problem is usually limited to powdered developers. Liquid-concentrate developers are already in solution to begin with, so the mixing temperature isn’t nearly as critical.
The example shown does not look like backing-paper mottle, the interaction of humidified backing paper with the emulsion of the film.